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ABRAHAM LINCOLN 



This authorized special edition has been 
published with the permission of C. P. 
Farrell. 



ABRAHAM 
LINCOLN 

By 
ROBERT G.INGERSOLL 



Nothing - lk chains 

f r« >m th< I •thing nobler 



JOHN LANK COMPANY 
NEW VnRK • M( M VII 



Ll^fcRY of CONGRESS 
Two CoDtes Received 

SEP 8 I90r 



Jt*c., No. 
COPY B. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1894, by 

ROBERT G. INGERSOLL 
1 the Office of. the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 



THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U. S. A. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 






IO 



I 

|N the 12th of Feb- 
ruary, 1 809, 1 wo bal 
were born one in the 
woods of Kentucky, 
amid the hardships and po^ erty of 
: one in England, sur- 

rounded by wealth and culture. 
One was educated in the University 
of Nature, the other at ( Cambridge. 
( )nr associated his name with 
the enfranchisement of lab< >r, w i1 h 
the emancipation of millions, 
with the salvation of the Republic. 
lie is known t<> us as Abraham 
Lincoln. 

[«] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

The other broke the chains of 
superstition and rilled the world 
with intellectual light, and he is 
known as Charles Darwin. 

Nothing is grander than to break 
chains from the bodies of men — 
nothing nobler than to destroy the 
phantoms of the soul. 

Because of these two men the 
nineteenth century is illustrious. 

A few men and women make 
a nation glorious — Shakespeare 
made England immortal, Voltaire 
civilized and humanized France ; 
Goethe, Schiller, and Humboldt 
lifted Germany into the light. 
Angelo, Raphael, Galileo, and 
Bruno crowned with fadeless laurel 
the Italian brow, and now the most 
precious treasure of the Great 
[6] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

Republic is the memory of Abraham 
Lincoln. 

Every generation has its heroes, 
its iconoclasts, its pioneers,- its 
ideals. The people always have 

been and still arc divided, at least 
into classes — the many, who with 
their hacks to the sunrise worship 
the past, and the lew, who keep 
their faces toward the dawn — the 
many, who are satisfied with the 
world as it is; the few, who labor 

and suffer tor the future, tor those 

to he, and who seek to rescue the 
oppressed, to destroy the cruel dis- 
tinctions of* caste, and to civilize 
mankind. 

Y< t it sometimes happens that 
the liberator of one age becomes 
the oppressor of the next. His 

m 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

reputation becomes so great — he 
is so revered and worshiped — that 
his followers, in his name, attack 
the hero who endeavors to take 
another step in advance. 

The heroes of the Revolution, 
forgetting the justice for which 
they fought, put chains upon the 
limbs of others, and in their names 
the lovers of liberty were denounced 
as ingrates and traitors. 

During the Revolution our fathers 
to justify their rebellion dug down 
to the bed-rock of human rights 
and planted their standard there. 
They declared that all men were 
entitled to liberty and that govern- 
ment derived its power from the 
consent of the governed. But when 
victory came, the great principles 
[8] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

were forgotten and i were 

put upon the limbs of men. 
of the great political parties were 
controlled bj 

Both were the defenders and pn •- 
tectors of slavery. For nearly tl 
quarters of a century these parties 
had control of the Republic. The 
principal object of both parties 
the protection of the infamous in- 
stitution. Bo1 h wen to secure 
t he Sou! h ra vote and both sacri- 
ficed principle and honor upon the 
altar of success. 

At last the Whig party died and 
the Republican was born. This 
party was opposed to the further 
extension of slavery. The Demo- 
cratic party of the South wished 

to make the "divine institution 
I9I 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

national — while the Democrats of 
the North wanted the question de- 
cided by each territory for itself. 

Each of these parties had con- 
servatives and extremists. The 
extremists of the Democratic party 
were in the rear and wished to go 
back; the extremists of the Re- 
publican party were in the front 
and wished to go forward. The 
extreme Democrat was willing to 
destroy the Union for the sake of 
slavery, and the extreme Repub- 
lican was willing to destroy the 
Union for the sake of liberty. 

Neither party could succeed 
without the votes of its extremists. 

This was thecondition in 1858-60. 

When Lincoln was a child his 
parents removed from Kentucky to 
[10] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

Indiana. A few trees were felled 

— a log hut open to the south, no 
floor, DO window, was built — a 
little land plowed and here the 
Lincolns lived. Here the patient, 
thoughtful, silent, loving mother 
died — died in the wide forest as a 
leaf dies, leaving nothing to her son 
but the memory of her love. 

In a lew years the family moved 
to Illinois. Lincoln then almost 
grown, clad in skins, with no woven 
stitch upon his body — walking and 
driving the cattle. Another farm 

was opened — a few acres subdued 

and enough raised to keep the wolf 
from the door. Lincoln quit the 
farm — went down the Ohio and 
Mississippi as a hand on a flat-boat 

— afterward clerked in a country 

[ii] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

store — then in partnership with 
another bought the store — failed. 
Nothing left but a few debts — 
learned the art of surveying — made 
about half a living and paid some- 
thing on the debts — read law — 
admitted to the bar — tried a few 
small cases — nominated for the 
Legislature and made a speech. 

This speech was in favor of a 
tariff, not only for revenue, but to 
encourage American manufacturers 
and to protect American working- 
men. Lincoln knew then as well 
as we do now, that everything, to 
the limits of the possible, that 
Americans use should be produced 
by the energy, skill, and ingenuity 
of Americans. He knew that the 

more industries we had, the greater 
[12] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

variety of things we made, the 
greater would be the development 
of the American brain. And lie 
knew that great men and great 
women are the best things that a 
nation can produce. — the finest 
crop a country can possibly raise. 

He knew that a nation that sells 
raw material will grow ignorant 
and poor, while the people who 
manufacture will grow intelligent 
and rich. To dig, to chop, to plow, 
requires more muscle than mind, 
more strengl h than I li< >ught 

To invent, to manufacture, to 
take advantage of the forc( 
nature — this requires thought, 
talent, genius. This develops the 
brain and gives wiims to the 

imagination. 

[13] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

It is better for Americans to 
purchase from Americans, even if 
the things purchased cost more. 

If we purchase a ton of steel rails 
from England for twenty dollars, 
then we have the rails and England 
the money. But if we buy a ton of 
steel rails from an American for 
twenty-five dollars, then America 
has both the rails and the money. 

Judging from the present uni- 
versal depression and the recent 
elections, Lincoln, in his first 
speech, stood on solid rock and was 
absolutely right. Lincoln was edu- 
cated in the University of Nature 

— educated by cloud and star — 
by field and winding stream — by 
billowed plains and solemn forests 

— by morning's birth and death of 

[14] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

day — by storm and night — by the 
ever eager Spring — by Summer's 
wealth of leaf and vine and dower 

— the sad and transient glories of 
the Autumn woods — and Winter, 
builder of home and fireside, and 
whose storms without create the 
social warmth within. 

I Ie was perfectly acquainted with 
the political questions of the day 

— heard them discussed at taverns 
and country stores, at voting places 
and courts and on the stump. He 
knew all the arguments for and 
against, and no man of his time 
was better equipped for intellectual 

conflict. lie knew the average 

mind — the- thoughts of the people, 

the hopes and prejudices of his 

fellow-men, lie had the power 

[15] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

of accurate statement. He was 
logical, candid, and sincere. In 
addition, he had the "touch of 
nature that makes the whole world 
kin." 

In 1858 he was a candidate for 
the Senate against Stephen A. 
Douglas. 

The extreme Democrats would 
not vote for Douglas, but the 
extreme Republicans did vote 
for Lincoln. Lincoln occupied the 
middle ground, and was the com- 
promise candidate of his own party. 
He had lived for many years in the 
intellectual territory of compromise 

— in a part of our country settled 
by Northern and Southern men 

— where Northern and Southern 
ideas met, and the ideas of the 

[16] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

two sections were brought together 
iuul compar 

The sympathies of Lincoln, his 
ties of kindred, wot with the 
South. His convictions, his sense 
of justice, and his ideals were with 
the North. He knew the horrors 
of slavery, and he felt the un- 
speakable ecstasies and glories of 
freedom He had the kindness. 
the gentleness, of true greatness, 
and he could not have been a 

master ; he had the manhood and 

independence of true greatni 
and lie could not have been a sla\ e, 
II'- was just, and was incapable of 

putting a burden upon others that 

he himself would not willingly hear. 

I ie was merciful and profound. 

and it was not necessary lor him 

rn i 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

to read the history of the world to 
know that liberty and slavery could 
not live in the same nation, or in 
the same brain. Lincoln was a 
statesman. And there is this differ- 
ence between a politician and a states- 
man. A politician schemes and works 
in every way to make the people do 
something for him. A statesman 
wishes to do something for the 
people. With him place and power 
are means to an end, and the end is 
the good of his country. 

In this campaign Lincoln demon- 
strated three things — first, that he 
was the intellectual superior of his 
opponent ; second, that he was right ; 
and third, that a majority of the 
voters of Illinois were on his side. 

[18] 



II 




X 1860 the Republic 
reached a crisis. The 
conflict between lib- 
erty and slavery could 
no longer be decayed For three- 
quarters of a century the forces 
had I thering for the battle. 

After the Revolution, principle 

was sacrificed for the sake of gain. 

The Constitution contradicted the 

1 )eclaration. Liberty as a principle 

was held in contempt. Slavery 
took possession of the Government 

Slavery made the laws, corrupted 
courts, dominated Presidents, and 
demoralized the people. 

I do not hold the South respon- 
ds I 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

sible for slavery any more than I 

do the North. The fact is, that 

individuals and nations act as they 

must. There is no chance. Back 

of every event — of every hope, 

prejudice, fancy, and dream — of 

every opinion and belief — of every 

vice and virtue — of every smile 

and curse, is the efficient cause. 

The present moment is the child, 

and the necessary child, of all the 

past. 

Northern politicians wanted 

office, and so they defended slavery ; 

Northern merchants wanted to sell 

their goods to the South, and so 

they were the enemies of freedom. 

The preacher wished to please the 

people who paid his salary, and 

so he denounced the slave for 
[20] 



ABRAHAM LIN< OLN 

no1 being satisfied with the posi- 
tion in which the good God had 
placed him. 

The respectable, the rich, the 
prosperous, the holders of and the 
seekers for office, held liberty in 
contempt. They regarded the 
Constitution as far more sacred 
than the rights of men. Candidates 
for the presidency were applauded 
because they had tried to make 

slave States of tree territory, and 

the highest court solemnly and 
ignorantly decided thai colored 

men and women had no rights. 

Men who insisted that freedom 

was better than slavery, and that 

mothers should not lie robbed of 
their babes, were hated, despised, 
and mobbed. Mr. Douglas voiced 

r«i 1 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

the feelings of millions when he de- 
clared that he did not care whether 
slavery was voted up or down. 
Upon this question the people, a 
majority of them, were almost 
savages. Honor, manhood, con- 
science, principle — all sacrificed 
for the sake of gain or office. 

From the heights of philosophy 
— standing above the contending 
hosts, above the prejudices, the sen- 
timentalities of the day — Lincoln 
was great enough and brave enough 
and wise enough to utter these 
prophetic words : 

"A house divided against itself cannot 
stand. I believe this Government cannot 
permanently endure half slave and half free. 
I do not expect the Union to be dissolved ; 
I do not expect the house to fall ; but I do 
expect it will cease to be divided. It will 

[22] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

ae all the one thing or the other, 
lather the opponents of slavery will arrest 
the further spread of it, and place it \ 

iblic mind shall rest in the belief that 
it is in the Course of ultimate extinct. 

uill push it further until it 
becomes alike lawful in all the Stab 
. North a w ell as South." 

This declaration was the standard 
around which gathered the grandest 
political party the world has ever 
seen, and this declaration made 

Lincoln the leader of that vast 

host. 

In this, the first great crisis, 
Lincoln uttered the victorious 
truth that made him the foremost 
man in the Republic. 

The Republican party nominated 

him for the presidency and the 

people decided at the polls thai a 

house divided against itself could 

[2 



ABRAHxVM LINCOLN 

not stand, and that slavery had 
cursed soul and soil enough. 

It is not a common thing to elect 
a really great man to fill the highest 
official position. I do not say that 
the great Presidents have been 
chosen by accident. Probably it 
would be better to say that they 
were the favorites of a happy 
chance. 

The average man is afraid of 
genius. He feels as an awkward 
man feels in the presence of a 
sleight-of-hand performer. He 
admires and suspects. Genius 
appears to carry too much sail — 
to lack prudence, has too much 
courage. The ballast of dullness 
inspires confidence. 

By a happy chance Lincoln was 
[24] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

nominated and elected in spite of 
his fitness — and the patient, gentle, 
just, and loving man was called 
upon to bear as great a burden as 
man has ever borne. 



[85] 



Ill 




HEN came another 
crisis — the crisis of 
Secession and Civil 
war. 

Again Lincoln spoke the deepest 
feeling and the highest thought of 
the Nation. In his first message 
he said : 

"The central idea of secession is the 
essence of anarchy." 

He also showed conclusively that 
the North and South, in spite of 
secession, must remain face to face 
— that physically they could not 
separate — that they must have 
more or less commerce, and that 
this commerce must be carried on 
[26] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

either between the two sections 
as friends, or as aliens. 

This situation and its conse- 
quences he pointed out to absolute 
perfection in these words : 

• than 
< ail treat il 

more faithfully enforced between aliens than 

After having stated fully and 
(airly the philosophy of the conflict, 
after having said enough to satisfy 
any calm and thoughtful mind, he 
addressed himself to the hearts of 
America. Probably there are few 
finer passages in literature than the 
el- >seof I lincoln's inaugural address: 

i close. We arc- not en< 

bul friends. We must n«>t be enemies. 

i i may lia\ e strained, it must 

. . our bonds I on. The 

ol memory stretching from 

[27] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

every battlefield and patriotic grave to every 
loving heart and hearthstone all over this 
broad land, will swell the chorus of the Union 
when again touched, as surely they will be, 
by the better angels of our nature." 

These noble, these touching, 
these pathetic words, were deliv- 
ered in the presence of rebellion, 
in the midst of spies and conspir- 
ators — surrounded by but few 
friends, most of whom were un- 
known, and some of whom were 
wavering in their fidelity — at a 
time when secession was arrogant 
and organized, when patriotism was 
silent, and when, to quote the 
expressive words of Lincoln him- 
self, " Sinners were calling the 
righteous to repentance." 

When Lincoln became President, 
he was held in contempt by the 
[28] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

South — underrated by the Xorth 
and East — not appreciated even 
by his cabinet — and yet he was 
not only one of the wisest, but one 
of the shrewdest of mankind. 
Knowing that he had the right to 
enforce the laws of the Union in 
all parts of the United States and 
Territories — knowing, as he did, 
that the secessionists were in the 
wrong, he also knew that they had 
sympathizers not only in the North, 

but in other lauds. 

Consequently, he felt that it was 

of the utmost importance thai the 
South should tire the first shot, 
should do some act that would 
solidify the North, and gain for us 
the justification of the civilized 

world. 

[891 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

He proposed to give food to the 
soldiers at Sumter. He asked the 
advice of all his cabinet on this 
question, and all, with the exception 
of Montgomery Blair, answered in 
the negative, giving their reasons in 
writing. In spite of this, Lincoln 
took his own course — endeavored 
to send the supplies, and while 
thus engaged, doing his simple 
duty, the South commenced actual 
hostilities and fired on the fort. 
The course pursued by Lincoln 
was absolutely right, and the act 
of the South to a great extent 
solidified the North, and gained 
for the Republic the justification 
of a great number of people in 
other lands. 

At that time Lincoln appreciated 
[30] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

the scope and consequences of the 
impending conflict. Above all other 
thoughts in his mind was this : 

"This conflict will settle the 
question, at least for centuries 
to come, whether man is capable 
of governing himself, and conse- 
quently is of greater importance to 
the free than to the enslaved." 

He knew what depended on the 
issue and he said : 

" We shall nobly save, or meanly 
lose, the last, best hope of earth. " 



31] 




<t 



IV 

HEN came a crisis in 
the North. It became 
clearer and clearer to 
Lincoln's mind, day 
by day, that the Rebellion was 
slavery, and that it was necessary 
to keep the border States on the 
side of the Union. For this pur- 
pose he proposed a scheme of 
emancipation and colonization — a 
scheme by which the owners of 
slaves should be paid the full value 
of what they called their "property." 
He knew that if the border States 
agreed to gradual emancipation, 
and received compensation for their 
slaves, they would be forever lost 
[32] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

to the Confederacy, whether seces- 
sion succeeded or not. It was 
objected at the time, by some, that 
the scheme was far too expensive ; 
but Lincoln, wiser than his advisers 
— far wiser than his enemies — 
demonstrated that from an eco- 
nomical point of view, his course 
was best 

I [e proposed that $400 he paid 
for slaves, including men, women, 
and children. This was a large 
price, and yet he showed how 
much cheaper it was to purchase 
than to carry on the war. 

At that time, at the price men- 
tioned, there were about $750,000 
worth of slaves in Delaware. The 
cost of carrying on the war was at 
least two millions of dollars a day, 
[88] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

and for one-third of one day's ex- 
penses, all the slaves in Delaware 
could be purchased. He also showed 
that all the slaves in Delaware, 
Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri 
could be bought, at the same price, 
for less than the expense of carrying 
on the war for eighty-seven days. 

This was the wisest thing that 
could have been proposed, and 
yet such was the madness of the 
South, such the indignation of the 
North, that the advice was un- 
heeded. 

Again, in July, 1862, he urged 
on the Representatives of the 
border States a scheme of gradual 
compensated emancipation ; but the 
Representatives were too deaf to 
hear, too blind to see. 
[34] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

Lincoln always hated slavery, 
and yet he felt the obligations and 
duties of his position. In his first 
message he assured the South that 
the laws, including the most odious 
of all — the law for the return of 
fugitive slaves — would be enforce d. 
The South would not hear. After- 
ward he proposed t<> purchase the 
slaves of the- holder States, hut the 
proposition was hardly discussed — 
hardly heard. Events came thick 
and fast : theorii way to tacts, 

and everything was left to force. 

The extreme Democrat of the 
North was fearful that slavery 
might he- destroyed, that the 
Constitution might be broken, and 
that Lincoln, after all, could not 
be trusted ; and at the same time 
[35] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

the radical Republican feared that 
Lincoln loved the Union more than 
he did liberty. 

The fact is, that he tried to dis- 
charge the obligations of his great 
office, knowing from the first that 
slavery must perish. The course 
pursued by Lincoln was so gentle, 
so kind and persistent, so wise and 
logical, that millions of Northern 
Democrats sprang to the defence, 
not only of the Union, but of his 
administration. Lincoln refused to 
be led or hurried by Fremont or 
Hunter, by Greeley or Sumner. 
From first to last he was the 
real leader, and he kept step with 
events. 



[36] 



V 

S@¥g^gN the 22d of July, 

% 1862, Lincoln sent 

word to the members 



o 



?^D^^^) of his cabinet that he 

wished to see them. It so happened 
that Secretary Chase was the first 
to arrive. He found Lincoln read- 
ing ji book. Looking up from the 
page, the President said : M Chase, 
did you ever read this hook?" 
"What hook is it?" asked Chase. 
11 Artemus Ward, " replied Lincoln. 
" Let me read you this chapter, 
entitled W\lv Wurx in Albany, " 
And so he began reading while the 
other members of the cabinet one 
by one came in. At last Stanton 
[87] 






ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

told Mr. Lincoln that he was in 
a great hurry, and if any business 
was to be done he would like to 
do it at once. Whereupon Mr. 
Lincoln laid down the open book, 
opened a drawer, took out a paper, 
and said : " Gentlemen, I have 
called you together to notify you 
what I have determined to do. I 
want no advice. Nothing can 
change my mind." 

He then read the Proclamation 
of Emancipation. Chase thought 
there ought to be something about 
God at the close, to which Lincoln 
replied : " Put it in, it won't hurt 
it." It was also agreed that the 
President would wait for a victory 
in the field before giving the 
Proclamation to the world. 
[38] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

The meeting was over, the 
members went their way. Mr. 
Chase was the last to go, and as 
lie went through the door looked 
hack and saw that Mr. Lincoln 
had taken up the book and was 
again engrossed in the Wax Wurx 
of . tlbany. 

This was on the 22d of July, 
1862. On the 22d of August 
of the same year Lincoln 
wrote his celebrated letter to 
Horace Greeley, in which he stated 
that his object was to save the 
Union; flint he would save it with 
slavery if lie could; that if it was 
necessary to destroy slavery in 
order to save the Union, he would ; 
in other words, he would do what 
was necessary to save the Union. 
[89] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

This letter disheartened, to a great 
degree, thousands and millions of 
the friends of freedom. They felt 
that Mr. Lincoln had not attained 
the moral height upon which they 
supposed he stood. And yet, 
when this letter was written, the 
Emancipation Proclamation was in 
his hands, and had been for thirty 
days, waiting only an opportunity 
to give it to the world. 

Some two weeks after the letter 
to Greeley, Lincoln was waited on 
by a committee of clergymen, and 
was by them informed that it was 
God's will that he should issue a 
Proclamation of Emancipation. 
He replied to them, in substance, 
that the day of miracles had passed. 
He also mildly and kindly suggested 
[40] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

that if it were God's will this Procla- 
mation should be issued, certainly 
God would have made known that 
will to him — to the person whose 
duty it was to issue it. 

On the 22d day of September, 
1862, the* most glorious date in 
the history of the Republic, the 
Proclamation of Emancipation was 

issued. 

Lincoln had reached the general- 
ization of all argument upon the 
question of slavery and freedom — 

a generalization that never has 
been, and probably never will be, 
excelled: 

•• I ii 'ji\ ing freedom t<> the i lave, wn 
freedom t<> tin- free.*' 

This is absolutely true. Liberty 
can be retained, can be enjoy* d, 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

only by giving it to others. The 
spendthrift saves, the miser is 
prodigal. In the realm of Free- 
dom, waste is husbandry. He 
who puts chains upon the body 
of another shackles his own soul. 
The moment the Proclamation 
was issued the cause of the Re- 
public became sacred. From that 
moment the North fought for the 
human race. From that moment 
the North stood under the blue 
and stars, the flag of Nature, 
sublime and free. 

In 1831 Lincoln went down the 
Mississippi on a flat-boat. He re- 
ceived the extravagant salary of ten 
dollars a month. When he reached 
New Orleans, he and some of his 

companions went about the city. 
[42] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

Among other places, they visited 
a slave market, where men and 
women were being sold at auction. 
A young colored girl was on the 
block. Lincoln heard the brutal 
words of the auctioneer — the 
savage remarks of bidders. The 
scene filled his soul with indignation 
and horror. 

Turning to his companions, lie 
said, " I Joys, if I ever get a chance 
to hit slavery, by God I 11 hit it 
hard!" 

The helpless girl, unconsciously, 
had planted in a great heart the 
seeds of the Proclamation. 

Thirty-one years afterward the 

chance came, the oath was kept, 

and to four millions of slaves, of 

men, women, and children, was 

[43] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

restored liberty, the jewel of the 
soul. 

In the history, in the fiction of 
the world, there is nothing more 
intensely dramatic than this. 

Lincoln held within his brain 
the grandest truths, and he held 
them as unconsciously, as easily, 
as naturally, as a waveless pool 
holds within its stainless breast a 
thousand stars. 

In these two years we had 
traveled from the Ordinance of 
Secession to the Proclamation of 
Emancipation. 



[44] 




VI 
^E were surrounded by 
enemies. Many of 
the so-called great in 
Europe and England 
were against us. They hated the 
Republic, despised our institutions, 
and sought in many ways to aid 
the South. 

Mr. Gladstone announced that 
Jefferson Davis had made a nation. 
and that he did not believe the 
restoration of the American Union 
by force attainable 

From the Vatican came words 

of encouragement lor the South. 

It was declared that the North 
was fighting tor empire and the 
South lor independence. 
[45] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

The Marquis of Salisbury said : 
" The people of the South are the 
natural allies of England. The 
North keeps an opposition shop 
in the same department of trade 
as ourselves." 

Not a very elevated sentiment — 
but English. 

Some of their statesmen declared 
that the subjugation of the South 
by the North would be a calamity 
to the world. 

Louis Napoleon was another 
enemy, and he endeavored to es- 
tablish a monarchy in Mexico, to 
the end that the great North might 
be destroyed. But the patience, 
the uncommon common sense, the 
statesmanship of Lincoln — in spite 
of foreign hate and Northern divi- 
[46] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

sion — triumphed over all. And 
now we forgive all iocs. Victory 
makes forgiveness easy. 

Lincoln was by nature a diplo- 
mat He knew the art of sailing 
against the wind. He had as 
much shrewdness as is consistent 
with honesty. I [e understood, n<>t 
only the rights of individuals, bul 

of nations. In all his correspond- 
ence with other governments he 
neither wrote nor sanctioned a line 
which afterward w;is used to tie 
his hands. In the use of perfect 
English he easily rose above all his 
advisers and all his fellows. 

Xo one claims thai I ancoln did 
all. He could have done nothing 
without the generals in the held. 

and the generals could have done 

[47] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

nothing without their armies. The 
praise is due to all — to the private 
as much as to the officer ; to the 
lowest who did his duty, as much 
as to the highest. 

My heart goes out to the brave 
private as much as to the leader 
of the host. 

But Lincoln stood at the center 
and with infinite patience, with 
consummate skill, with the genius 
of goodness, directed, cheered, 
consoled, and conquered. 



[48] 




VII 

L AVERY was the 

cause of the war, 
and slavery was the 
perpetual stumbling- 
block. As the war went on, ques- 
tion after question arose — questions 
that could not he answered hy 
theories. Should we hand hack 
the slave to his master, when the 
master was using his slave to 

destroy the Union I It the South 

was right, slaves were property, 

and by the laws of war anything 
that might 1><' used to the advan- 
tage of the enemy might he confis- 
cated by us. Events did not wait 
lor discussion. General Uutler 
[49] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

denominated the negro as " a con- 
traband." Congress provided that 
the property of the rebels might 
be confiscated. 

The extreme Democrats of the 
North regarded the slave as more 
sacred than life. It was no harm 
to kill the master — to burn his 
house, to ravage his fields — but 
you must not free his slave. 

If in war a nation has the right 
to take the property of its citizens 
— of its friends — certainly it has 
the right to take the property of 
those it has the right to kill. 

Lincoln was wise enough to know 
that war is governed by the laws 
of war, and that during the con- 
flict constitutions are silent. All 
that he could do he did in the 
[50] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

interests of peace. He offered to 
execute every law — including the 
most infamous of all — to buy the 
slaves in the border States — to 
establish gradual, compensated 
emancipal ion; but the South would 
not hear. Then he confiscated the 
property of rebels — treated the 
slaves as contraband of war. used 
them to put down the Rebellion, 
armed them and clothed them in 
the uniform of the Republic — 
was in fa\or of making them citi- 
zens and allowing them to stand on 
an equality with their white brethren 
under the Hag of the Nation. 
During these years Lincoln moved 

with events, and every step he took 

has been justified by the considerate 

judgment of mankind. 

[51] 



VIII 




INCOLN not only 
watched the war, but 
kept his hand on the 
political pulse. In 
1863 a tide set in against the 
administration. A Republican 
meeting was to be held in Spring- 
field, Illinois, and Lincoln wrote a 
letter to be read at this convention. 
It was in his happiest vein. It was 
a perfect defence of his administra- 
tion, including the Proclamation 
of Emancipation. Among other 
things he said : 

"But the proclamation, as law, either is 
valid or it is not valid. If it is not valid 
it needs no retraction, but if it is valid it 
cannot be retracted, any more than the dead 
can be brought to life." 
[52] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

To the Northern Democrats 
who said they would not fight for 
negroes, Lincoln replied : 

"Some of them seem willing to fight for 
you — but no matter." 

Of negro soldiers : 

" But negroes, like other people, act upon 
motives. Why should they do anything for 
OS if we Mill do nothing for them ? If they 
stake their lives for us they must be prompted 

by tli«- Btrongesl motive — even the promise 
of freedom. Ami the promise, being made, 
must be kept." 

There is one line in this letter 
that will give it immortality : 

"The Father of waters again goesunvexed 

to the sea." 

This line is worthy of Shakespeare. 

Another: 

" Among free men there can be no success- 
ful appeal from the ballot to the bullet." 

lie draws a comparison between 
[53] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

the white men against us and the 
black men for us : 

" And then there will be some black men 
who can remember that with silent tongue 
and clenched teeth and steady eye and well- 
poised bayonet they have helped mankind 
on to this great consummation ; while I fear 
there will be some white ones unable to for- 
get that with malignant heart and deceitful 
speech they strove to hinder it." 

Under the influence of this letter, 
the love of country, of the Union, 
and above all, the love of liberty, 
took possession of the heroic North. 

There was the greatest moral 
exaltation ever known. 

The spirit of liberty took pos- 
session of the people. The masses 
became sublime. 

To fight for yourself is natural 
— to fight for others is grand ; to 
fight for your country is noble — 
[54] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

to fight for the human race — for 
the liberty of hand and brain — 
is nobler still. 

As a matter of fact, the defenders 
of slavery had sown the seeds of 
their own defeat. They dug the 
pit in which they fell. Clay and 
Webster and thousands of others 
had by their eloquence made the 
Union almost sacred. The Union 
was the very tree of life, the source 
and stream and sea of liberty and 
law. 

For the sake of slavery millions 
stood by the Union, for the sake 
of liberty millions knelt at the altar 
of the Union ; and this love of the 
I nion is what, at last, overwhelmed 
the Confederate hosts. 

It does not seem possible that 
[55] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

only a few years ago our Consti- 
tution, our laws, our Courts, the 
Pulpit, and the Press, defended and 
upheld the institution of slavery — 
that it was a crime to feed the 
hungry — to give water to the lips 
of thirst — shelter to a woman 
flying from the whip and chain ! 

The old flag still flies — the stars 
are there — the stains have gone. 



[56] 




IX 

IXCOLN always saw 
the end. He was un- 
moved by the storms 
and currents of the 
times. He advanced too rapidly 
for the conservative politicians, too 
slowly for the radical enthusiasts. 
He occupied the line of safety, and 
held by his personality — by the 
force of his great character, by his 
charming candor — the masses on 
his side. 

The soldiers thought of him as 
a father. 

All who had lost their sons in 
battle felt that they had his sym- 
pathy — felt that his face was as 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

sad as theirs. They knew that 
Lincoln was actuated by one mo- 
tive, and that his energies were 
bent to the attainment of one end 

— the salvation of the Republic. 
They knew that he was kind, 

sincere, and merciful. They knew 
that in his veins there was no drop 
of tyrants' blood. They knew that 
he used his power to protect the 
innocent, to save reputation and life 

— that he had the brain of a phi- 
losopher — the heart of a mother. 

During all the years of war, 
Lincoln stood the embodiment of 
mercy, between discipline and 
death. He pitied the imprisoned 
and condemned. He took the 
unfortunate in his arms, and was 
the friend even of the convict. 
[58] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

He knew temptation's strength — 
the weakness of the will — and 
how in fury's sudden flame the 
judgment drops the scales, and 
passion — blind and deaf — usurps 
the throne. 

( )ne day a woman, accompanied 
by a Senator, called on the Presi- 
dent. The woman was the wife 
of one of Mosby's men. Her hus- 
band had been captured, tried, and 
condemned to be shot. She came 
to ask tor the pardon of her hus- 
band. The President heard her 
story and then asked what kind of 
man her husband was. " Is lie 
intemperate, does he abuse the 
children and beat you?" "No, 
no," said the wife, **he is a good 
man, a good husband, he loves me 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

and he loves the children, and we 
cannot live without him. The 
only trouble is that he is a fool 
about politics — I live in the 
North, born there, and if I get him 
home, he will do no more fighting 
for the South." " Well," said Mr. 
Lincoln, after examining the pa- 
pers, " I will pardon your husband 
and turn him over to you for safe 
keeping." The poor woman, over- 
come with joy, sobbed as though 
her heart would break. 

" My dear woman," said Lincoln, 
" if I had known how badly it was 
going to make you feel, I never 
would have pardoned him." "You 
do not understand me," she cried 
between her sobs. " You do not 
understand me." " Yes, yes, I 
[60] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

do," answered the President, "and 
if you do not go away at once I 
shall be crying with you." 

On another occasion, a member 
of Congress, on his way to see 
Lincoln, found in one of the ante- 
rooms of the White House an old 
white-haired man, sobbing — his 

wrinkh-d face wet with tears. The 
old man told him that for several 
days he had tried to sec the Presi- 
dent — that he wanted a pardon 

for his son. The Congressman 
told the old man to come with him 
and he would introduce him to Mr. 

Lincoln. On being introduced, 

the old man said : M Mr. I ancoln, 

my wife sent me to you. We had 

three hoys. They all joined your 

army. One of 'em has heen killed, 
Mill 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

one's a-fighting now, and one of 
em, the youngest, has been tried 
for deserting, and he 's going to be 
shot day after to-morrow. He 
never deserted. He 's wild, and 
he may have drunk too much and 
wandered off, but he never deserted. 
'T ain't in the blood. He's his 
mother's favorite, and if he 's shot, 
I know she'll die." The Presi- 
dent, turning to his secretary, said : 
" Telegraph General Butler to 
suspend the execution in the case 

of [giving the name] until 

further orders from me, and ask 

him to answer ." 

The Congressman congratulated 

the old man on his success — but 

the old man did not respond. He 

was not satisfied. " Mr. President," 

[62] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

lie began, " 1 can't take that news 
home. It won't satisfy his mother. 
How do I know but what you'll 
give further orders to-morrow?" 
"My good man," said Mr. Lincoln, 
" I have to do the best I can. 
The generals are complaining be- 
cause I pardon so many. They say 
that my mercy destroys discipline. 
Now, when you get home you tell 
his mother what you said to me 
about my giving further orders, 
and then you tell her that I said 
this: * I i your son lives until they 
^et further orders from me, that 

when lie does die people will say 

that old Methusaleh was a baby 

compared to him. 

The pardoning power is the only 

remnant of absolute sovereignty 
[68] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

that a President has. Through all 
the years, Lincoln will be known 
as Lincoln the loving, Lincoln the 
merciful. 



[64] 




IXCOLX had the 
keenest sense of hu- 
mor, and always saw 
i the laughable side 
even of disaster. In his humor 
there was logic and the best of 
sense. No matter how compli- 
cated the question, or how embar- 
rassing the situation, his humor 
furnished an answer and a door of 
ese;i|)e. 

Vallandigham was ;i friend of the 
South, and did wh.it he could to 
sow the seeds of failure. In his 

opinion everything, except rebel- 
lion, was unconstitutional. 

He was arrested, convicted by a 
[65] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

court martial, and sentenced to 
imprisonment. 

There was doubt about the 
legality of the trial, and thousands 
in the North denounced the whole 
proceeding as tyrannical and infa- 
mous. At the same time millions 
demanded that Vallandigham 
should be punished. 

Lincoln's humor came to the 
rescue. He disapproved of the 
findings of the court, changed the 
punishment, and ordered that Mr. 
Vallandigham should be sent to his 
friends in the South. 

Those who regarded the act as 
unconstitutional almost forgave it 
for the sake of its humor. 

Horace Greeley always had the 
idea that he was greatly superior 
[66] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

to Lincoln, because he lived in a 
larger town, and for a long time 
insisted that the people of the 
North and the people of the South 
desired peace. He took it upon 
himself to lecture Lincoln. Lin- 
coln, with that wonderful sense i^' 
humor, united with shrewdness and 

profound wisdom, told Greeley 

that, if the South really wanted 
peace, he (Lincoln) desired the 
same thing, and was doing all he 
could to bring it about Greeley 
insisted that a commissioner should 
be appointed, with authority to 
negotiate with the representatives 

of the Confederacy. Tliis was 
Lincoln's opportunity. He au- 
thorized Greeley to act as such 
commissioner. The great editor 
[G7] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

felt that he was caught. For a 
time he hesitated, but finally went, 
and found that the Southern com- 
missioners were willing to take 
into consideration any offers of 
peace that Lincoln might make, 
consistent with the independence 
of the Confederacy. 

The failure of Greeley was hu- 
miliating, and the position in which 
he was left, absurd. 

Again the humor of Lincoln 
had triumphed. 

Lincoln, to satisfy a few fault- 
finders in the North, went to 
Grant's headquarters and met some 
Confederate commissioners. He 
urged that it was hardly proper for 
him to negotiate with the repre- 
sentatives of rebels in arms — that 
[68] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

if the South wanted peace, all they 
had to do was to stop 6ghting. 
One of the commissioners cited as 
a precedent the fact that Charles 
the First negotiated with rebels in 
arms. To which Lincoln replied 
that Charles the First lost his 
head. 

The conference < ame to nothing, 
as Mr. Lincoln expected. 

The commissioners, one of them 
being Alexander II. Stephens, 
who, when in good health, weighed 
about ninety pounds, dined with 

the President and Genera] (.rant. 
After dinner, as they wen- leaving, 

Stephens put on an English ulster, 
the tails of which reached the 
ground, while the collar was some- 
what above the wearer's head. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

As Stephens went out, Lincoln 
touched Grant and said : " Grant, 
look at Stephens. Did you ever 
see as little a nubbin with as much 
shuck ? " 

Lincoln always tried to do things 
in the easiest way. He did not 
waste his strength. He was not 
particular about moving along 
straight lines. He did not tunnel 
the mountains. He was willing 
to go around, and reach t the end 
desired as a river reaches the sea. 



[70] 




XI 
NE of the most won- 
derful things ever 
done by Lincoln was 
^^^ytlie promotion of 
Genera] Hooker. After the battle 
of Fredericksburg, Genera] Burn- 
side found great fault with Hooker, 
and wished to have him removed 
from the Army of the Potomac. 
Lincoln disapproved of Burnside's 
order, and gave Hooker the com- 
mand. He then wrote Hooker 
this memorable letter : 

"I have placed you at the bead of the 

Army of the Potomac. Of course I have 

done this upon what appears to me to be 
sufficient reasons, and yet I think it I 
you to know that there are some tin 
regard to which I am not quil d with 

[71] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

you. I believe you to be a brave and skill- 
ful soldier — which, of course, I like. I 
also believe you do not mix politics with 
your profession — in which you are right. 
You have confidence — which is a valuable, 
if not an indispensable, quality. You are 
ambitious, which, within reasonable bounds, 
does good rather than harm; but I think 
that during General Burnside's command of 
the army you have taken counsel of your 
ambition to thwart him as much as you 
could — in which you did a great wrong to 
the country and to a most meritorious and 
honorable brother officer. I have heard, in 
such a way as to believe it, of your recently 
saying that both the army and the Govern- 
ment needed a dictator. Of course it was 
not for this, but in spite of it, that I have 
given you command. Only those generals 
who gain successes can set up dictators. 
What I now ask of you is military successes, 
and I will risk the dictatorship. The Gov- 
ernment will support you to the utmost of 
its ability, which is neither more nor less than 
it has done and will do for all commanders. 
I much fear that the spirit which you have 
aided to infuse into the army, of criticising 
their commander and withholding confidence 
[72] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

in him, will now turn upon you. I shall 
assist you, so far as I can, to put it clown. 
Neither you, nor Napoleon, if he were alive, 
can get any good out of an army whil. 
a spirit prevails in it. And now beware of 
ra hness. Beware of rashness, but with 
, and sleepless vigilance go forward 
and give us victories." 

This letter has, in my judg- 
ment, no parallel. The mistaken 
magnanimity is almost equal to 
the prophecy : 

" I orach fear that the spirit which you 
tided to infuse into the army, of criti- 
cising their commander and withholding 
confidence in him, will now turn upon you. 

Chancellorsville was the fulfill- 
ment 



[73] 



XII 




R. LINCOLN was a 

statesman. The great 
stumbling-block — 
the great obstruction 
— in Lincoln's way, and in the 
way of thousands, was the old 
doctrine of States Rights. 

This doctrine was first estab- 
lished to protect slavery. It was 
clung to to protect the inter- State 
slave trade. It became sacred in 
connection with the Fugitive Slave 
Law, and it was finally used as the 
corner-stone of Secession. 

This doctrine was never appealed 
to in defence of the right — always 
in support of the wrong. For 
[74] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

many years politicians upon both 
sides of this question endeavored 

to express the exact relations exist- 
ing between the Federal Govern- 
ment and the States, and I know 
of no one who succeeded, except 
Lincoln. In his message of 1861, 
delivered on July the 1th, the 
definition is given, and it is perfecl : 

•• Wli it. \. r concerns the whole should be 
confided to the whole — to the General 
1 rnment Whatevi r concerns only the 
State hould t><- li \y to the 

State." 

When that definition is realized 

in practice, this country becomes 
a Nation. Then we shall know- 
that the first allegiance of the citi- 
zen is not to his State, but to the 
Republic, and that the first duty 
of the Republic is to protect the 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

citizen, not only when in other 
hinds, but at home, and that this 
duty cannot be discharged by 
delegating it to the States. 

Lincoln believed in the sover- 
eignty of the people — in the 
supremacy of the Nation — in the 
territorial integrity of the Republic. 



[76] 




XIII 

GREAT actor can 
be known only when 
■ has assumed the 
principal character in 
a great drama. Possibly the great- 
est actors have never appeared, 
and it may be that the greatest 
soldiers have lived the lives of 
perfect peace. Lincoln assumed 
the leading part in the greatest 
drama ei er enacted upon the stage 
of this continent. 

His criticisms of military move- 
ments, Ins correspondence with his 

generals and others on the conduct 

of the war, show that he was at all 

times master of the situation — 

[77] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

that he was a natural strategist, 
that he appreciated the difficulties 
and advantages of every kind, and 
that in " the still and mental " 
field of war he stood the peer of 
any man beneath the flag. 

Had McClellan followed his ad- 
vice, he would have taken Rich- 
mond. 

Had Hooker acted in accordance 
with his suggestions, Chancellors- 
ville would have been a victory for 
the Nation. 

Lincoln's political prophecies 
were all fulfilled. 

We know now that he not only 
stood at the top, but that he 
occupied the center, from first to 
last, and that he did this by reason 
of his intelligence, his humor, his 
[78] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

philosophy, his courage, and his 
patriotism. 

In passion's storm he stood. 
unmoved, patient, just, and candid. 
In his brain there was no cloud, 
and in his heart no hate. He 
longed to save the South as well 
as North, to see the Nation one 
and t'r< 

He lived until the end was 
known. 

1 1.- lived until the Confederacy 

was dead — until lav sunvi id< 1 vd, 

until Davis fled, until the doors of 
Libby Prison were opined, until 
the Republic was supreme. 

He lived until Lincoln and 
Liberty were united forever. 

He lived to cross the desert — 
to reach the palms of victory — to 

r79i 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

hear the murmured music of the 
welcome waves. 

He lived until all loyal hearts 
were his — until the history of his 
deeds made music in the souls of 
men — until he knew that on 
Columbia's Calendar of worth and 
fame his name stood first. 

He lived until there remained 
nothing for him to do as great as 
he had done. 

What he did was worth living 
for, worth dying for. 

He lived until he stood in the 
midst of universal Joy, beneath 
the outstretched wings of Peace — 
the foremost man in all the world. 

And then the horror came. 
Night fell on noon. The Savior 
of the Republic, the breaker of 
[80] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

chains, the liberator of millions, lie 
who had " assured freedom to the 
free," was dead. 

Upon his brow Fame placed the 
immortal wreath, and for the first 
time in the history of the world a 
Nation bowed and wept. 

The memory of Lincoln is the 
strongest, tenderest tic that hinds 

all hearts together now. and holds 
all States beneath a Nation's flag. 



[81] 




XIV 

BRAHAM LIN- 
COLN — strange 
mingling of mirth and 
tears, of the tragic 
and grotesque, of cap and crown, 
of Socrates and Democritus, of 
iEsop and Marcus Aurelius, of all 
that is gentle and just, humorous 
and honest, merciful, wise, laugh- 
able, lovable, and divine, and all con- 
secrated to the use of man ; while 
through all, and over all, were an 
overwhelming sense of obligation, of 
chivalric loyalty to truth, and upon 
all, the shadow of the tragic end. 

Nearly all the great historic 
characters are impossible monsters, 
[82]- 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

disproportioned by flattery, or by 
calumny deformed. We know 
nothing of tbeir peculiarities, or 
nothing but their peculiarities. 
About these oaks there clings none 
of the earth of humanity. 

Washington is now only a steel 
engraving. About the real man 
who lived and loved and haled and 

schemed, we know but little. The 
glass through which we look at 
him is of such high magnifying 
power that the features are ex< 

ingly indistinct. 

Hundreds of people air now 

engaged in smoothing out the lines 
of Lincoln's face — forcing all fea- 
tures to the common mold — so 

that he may be known, not as he 

really was, but. according to their 

[83] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

poor standard, as he should have 
been. 

Lincoln was not a type. He 
stands alone — no ancestors, no 
fellows, and no successors. 

He had the advantage of living 
in a new country, of social equal- 
ity, of personal freedom, of seeing 
in the horizon of his future the 
perpetual star of hope. He pre- 
served his individuality and his 
self-respect. He knew and min- 
gled with men of every kind ; and, 
after all, men are the best books. 
He became acquainted with the 
ambitions and hopes of the heart, 
the means used to accomplish ends, 
the springs of action and the seeds 
of thought. He was familiar with 
nature, with actual things, with 
[84] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

common facts. He loved and 
appreciated the poem of the year, 
the drama of the seasons. 

In a oew country a man must 
possess at least three virtues — 
honesty, courage, and generosity. 
In cultivated society, cultivation is 
often more important than soiL 
A well-executed counterfeit passes 
more readily than a blurred genu- 
ine. It is n py <>nly to ob- 
serve the unwritten laws of society 
— to be honest enough to keep 
out of prison, and generous enough 
to subscribe in public — where the 

Subscription can be defended as an 

investment. 

In .-! new country, character is 
essentia] ; in the old, reputation is 
sufficient In the new, they find 

[86] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

what a man really is ; in the old, 
he generally passes for what he 
resembles. People separated only 
by distance are much nearer 
together, than those divided by the 
walls of caste. 

It is no advantage to live in a 
great city, where poverty degrades 
and failure brings despair. The 
fields are lovelier than paved 
streets, and the great forests than 
walls of brick. Oaks and elms are 
more poetic than steeples and 
chimneys. 

Tn the country is the idea of 
home. There you see the rising 
and setting sun ; you become ac- 
quainted with the stars and clouds. 
The constellations are your friends. 
You hear the rain on the roof and 
[86] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

listen to the rhythmic sighing of 
the winds. You are thrilled by 
the resurrection called Spring, 
touched and saddened by Autumn 

— the grace and poetry of death. 
Every held is a picture, a land- 
scape; every landscape a poem; 
every flower a tender thought, and 
every forest a fairyland. In the 

country you preserve your identity 

— your personality. There you 
are an aggregation of atoms, but 
in the city you are only an atom 
of an aggregation. 

In the country you keep your 

cheek close to the breast of Na- 
ture. You are calmed and enno- 
bled by the space-, the amplitude 

and scope of earth and sky — by 
the constancy of the stars. 
[87] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

Lincoln never finished his educa- 
tion. To the night of his death 
he was a pupil, a learner, an in- 
quirer, a seeker after knowledge. 
You have no idea how many men 
are spoiled by what is called edu- 
cation. For the most part, col- 
leges are places where pebbles are 
polished and diamonds are dimmed. 
If Shakespeare had graduated at 
Oxford, he might have been a 
quibbling attorney, or a hypo- 
critical parson. 

Lincoln was a great lawyer. 
There is nothing shrewder in this 
world than intelligent honesty. 
Perfect candor is sword and shield. 

He understood the nature of 
man. As a lawyer he endeavored 

to get at the truth, at the very 

[88] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

heart of a case. He was not will- 
ing even to deceive himself. Xo 
matter what his interest said, what 
his passion demanded, he was great 
enough to find the truth and strong 
enough to pronounce judgment 
against his own desin 

Lincoln was a many-sided man, 
acquainted with smiles and tears. 
Complex in brain, single in heart, 
direct as light ; and his words, 
candid as mirrors, gave the perfect 

image of his thought. He was 

nei <T afraid to ask — never too dig- 
nified to admit that lie did not 
know. Xo man had keener wit, 
Or kinder humor. 

It may he that humor is the 
pilot of reason. People without 
humor drift unconsciously into 
[89] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

absurdity. Humor sees the other 
side — stands in the mind like a 
spectator, a good-natured critic, 
and gives its opinion before judg- 
ment is reached. Humor goes 
with good nature, and good nature 
is the climate of reason. In anger, 
reason abdicates and malice extin- 
guishes the torch. Such was the 
humor of Lincoln that he could 
tell even unpleasant truths as 
charmingly as most men can tell 
the things we wish to hear. 

He was not solemn. Solemnity 
is a mask worn by ignorance and 
hypocrisy — it is the preface, pro- 
logue, and index to the cunning or 
the stupid. 

He was natural in his life and 
thought — master of the story- 
[90] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

teller's art, in illustration apt, in ap- 
plieation perfect, liberal in speech, 
shocking Pharisees and prudes, 
using any word that wit could 
disinfect. 

He was a logician. His logic 
shed light In its presence the 
obscure became luminous, and the 
most complex and intricate politi- 
cal and metaphysical knots seemed 
to untie themselves. I <Ogic is the 

necessary product of intelligence 
and sincerity. It cannot he 
learned. 1 1 is the child of a clear 

head and a good heart. 

Lincoln was candid, and with 

candor often deceived the deceit- 
ful, lie had intellect without 
arrogance, genius without pride, 

and religion without cant — that is 

[in] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

to say, without bigotry and without 
deceit. 

He was an orator — clear, sincere, 
natural. He did not pretend. He 
did not say what he thought others 
thought, but what he thought. 

If you wish to be sublime you 
must be natural — you must keep 
close to the grass. You must sit 
by the fireside of the heart ; above 
the clouds it is too cold. You must 
be simple in your speech ; too 
much polish suggests insincerity. 

The great orator idealizes the 
real, transfigures the common, 
makes even the inanimate throb 
and thrill, fills the gallery of the 
imagination with statues and pic- 
tures perfect in form and color, 
brings to light the gold hoarded 
[92] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

by memory the miser, shows the 
glittering coin to the spendthrift 
hope, enriches the brain, ennobles 
the heart, and quickens the con- 
science. Between his lips words 
bud and blossom. 

[£ you wish to know the differ- 
ence between an orator and an 

elocutionist — between what is felt 
and what is said — between what 
the heart and brain can do together 

and what the brain can do alone — 

read Lincoln's wondrous speech at 

Gettysburg, ami then the oration 

of Edward Everett 

The speech of Lincoln will never 

be forgotten. It will live until 
languages are dead and lips are 

dust. The oration of Everett will 
never be read. 

r9si 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

The elocutionists believe in the 
virtue of voice, the sublimity of 
syntax, the majesty of long sen- 
tences, and the genius of gesture. 

The orator loves the real, the 
simple, the natural. He places 
the thought above all. He knows 
that the greatest ideas should be 
expressed in the shortest words — 
that the greatest statues need the 
least drapery. 

Lincoln was an immense person- 
ality — firm but not obstinate. 
Obstinacy is egotism — firmness, 
heroism. He influenced others 
without effort, unconsciously ; and 
they submitted to him as men 
submit to nature — unconsciously. 
He was severe with himself, and 
for that reason lenient with others. 
[94] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

He appeared to apologize for 
being kinder than his fellows. 

He did merciful things as stealth- 
ily as others committed crimes. 

Almost ashamed of tender- 
ness, he said and did the noblest 
words and deeds with that charm- 
ing confusion, that awkward- 
ness, that is the perfect grace of 

modesty. 

As a noble man, wishing to pay 

b small debt to b poor neighbor, 
reluctantly offers a hundred-dollar 

bill and asks for change, fearing 

that he may be suspected either of 
making a display of wraith or a 
pretence of payment, so Lincoln 

hesitated to show his wealth of 

dness even to the best he knew. 
A great man stooping, not wish- 
[95] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

ing to make his fellows feel that 
they were small or mean. 

By his candor, by his kindness, 
by his perfect freedom from re- 
straint, by saying what he thought, 
and saying it absolutely in his own 
way, he made it not only possible, 
but popular, to be natural. He 
was the enemy of mock solemnity, 
of the stupidly respectable, of the 
cold and formal. 

He wore no official robes either 
on his body or his soul. He never 
pretended to be more or less, or 
other, or different, from what he 
really was. 

He had the unconscious natural- 
ness of Nature's self. 

He built upon the rock. The 
foundation was secure and broad. 
[96] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

The structure was a pyramid, 
narrowing as it rose. Through 
days and nights of sorrow, through 
years of grief and pain, with un- 
swerving purpose, "with malice 
towards none, with charity for all," 
with infinite patience, with un- 
clouded vision, lie hoped and toiled. 
Stone after stone was laid, until 

at last the Proclamation found its 
place. ( )n th.it the Goddess stands. 

He knew others, because per- 
fectly acquainted with himself. lie 
cared nothing for place, hut every- 
thing for principle; little for 
money, hut everything for inde- 
penden Where no principle- 

was involved, easily swayed — 
willing to go slowly, if in the right 
direction — sometimes willing to 
[97] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

stop ; but he would not go back, 
and he would not go wrong. 

He was willing to wait. He 
knew that the event was not 
waiting, and that fate was not the 
fool of chance. He knew that 
slavery had defenders, but no de- 
fence, and that they who attack the 
right must wound themselves. 

He was neither tyrant nor slave. 
He neither knelt nor scorned. 

With him, men were neither 
great nor small — they were right 
or wrong. 

Through manners, clothes, titles, 
rags, and race he saw the real — 
that which is. Beyond accident, 
policy, compromise, and war he 
saw the end. 

He was patient as Destiny, 
[98] 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

whose undecipherable hieroglyphs 
were so deeply graven on his sad 
and tragic face. 

Nothing discloses real character 
like the use of power. It is easy 
for the weak to be gentle. Most 
people can hear adversity. But it' 
you wish to know what a man 
really is, give him power. This 
is the supreme test. It is the glory 
of Lincoln that, having almost 
absolute power, In- never abused it. 
•pt on the side of mercy. 

Wealth could not purchase, 

power could not awe, this divine, 
this loving man. 

lie knew no tear except the fear 
of doing wrong. Elating slavery, 
pitying the master — seeking to 
conquer, not persons, but prejudices 

r99i 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

— he was the embodiment of the 
self-denial, the courage, the hope, 
and the nobility of a Nation. 

He spoke not to inflame, not to 
upbraid, but to convince. 

He raised his hands, not to 
strike, but in benediction. 

He longed to pardon. 

He loved to see the pearls of 
joy on the cheeks of a wife whose 
husband he had rescued from death. 

Lincoln was the grandest figure 
of the fiercest civil war. He is the 
gentlest memory of our world. 



[100] 



SEP 



1907 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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